ELLENSBURG, Wash. (Apr. 10) – The Central Washington University men's rugby team travels to Tucson, Arizona for a D1A Round of 16 fixture against the University of Arizona.
FIXTURE INFORMATION
Saturday (Apr. 13) at 3:00 PM
vs Arizona
Tucson, AZ
LIVE VIDEO
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"Huge challenge lies ahead for us, taking on a very good Arizona side this Saturday," CWU Head Coach
Todd Thornley said. "They have had a great year, and playing them at home in the heat of Tucson will be extremely difficult. We have been working hard all year to be ready for a game like this, so I am excited to see how our program responds to knock out rugby. The guys have enjoyed the two-week break to refresh physically and game plan install is going well. We cannot wait for Saturday!"
SCOUTING ARIZONA
Arizona finished the regular season with a 6-2 record after thumping Utah 41-10.
The Wildcats opened the scoring in the first minute with a penalty from Robert Figley. The penalty was followed by a pair of tires by Lucas Bartzis. After a Utah try, Kyle Fulton scored twice in a seven-minute span to push the 'Cats lead to 12 at half. Arizona shut out Utah in the second half and added 19 points in the back end of the contest.
Arizona had lost its last two fixtures before picking up the victory against Utah. The Wildcats fell to No. 2 Cal 55-13 after falling to No. 8 BYU 22-17.
Against ranked teams, Arizona finished 2-2 on the regular season. They recorded victories over No. 20 Grand Canyon and No. 19 UCLA, but fell to the previously mentioned No. 2 Cal and No. 8 BYU.
THE BRACKET
The Round of 16 is slated for April 13 with eight fixtures. Cal enters as the top seed in the west and plays eight seed UC Davis. Saint Mary's enters as the two seed and takes on seven seed Grand Canyon. The three seed was nabbed by BYU and the Cougars play six seed UCLA. Arizona enters as the four seed, while Central Washington enters at number five.
In the east, Life earned the top spot after finishing the regular season undefeated. The reigning national champions play Penn State. Army claimed the second seed after being the next highest ranked conference winner out of the East. Army will play Arkansas State, a team they have not played this season. The third seed went to Wisconsin and the Badgers will play host to Lindenwood. Oklahoma and Navy round out the two remaining East teams at the four and five seeds respectively.
LAST TIME OUT
Central Washington rounded out the regular season winning four of their last five fixtures. The Wildcats recorded a 22-8 victory over Grand Canyon to close the regular season on Senior Day.
After allowing an early penalty, the Wildcats found their way to a 19-8 lead.
Max Riseham scored a pair of tries on the day.
Riley Schell scored in the 48
th minute, while Riseham tallied tries in the eighth and 41
st minutes.
THE STARTING XV
